


The Room Upstairs

by PrincessQueenLillipop



Series: Akatsuki Kids AU [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Don't give kids lockpicks, Family Secrets, I haven't figure this story out completely, It was giving me issues, Kisame is best godfather, Other, Yes I changed the spelling of the name I'll fix the other stories soon, making it up as I go
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2020-01-06 16:15:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18391904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessQueenLillipop/pseuds/PrincessQueenLillipop
Summary: “The Skies can’t keep their secrets!They tell it to the hills-The hills tell the orchards-And they the daffodils!”Emily Dickinson





	The Room Upstairs

The early morning sunlight was barely peeking over the distant mountains, throwing a golden glow over everything and sharply contrasting the lingering dark shadows. It promised to be a warm day, though not for another few hours.

A horrible day to end up grounded.

“Would you stop saying that, we aren’t going to get grounded,” Nasim said, sighing heavily. The whole house was silent, save for the occasional click from the lock as they tried to open the door.

“We definitely are. We always do. Because to you the words ‘secret’ and ‘never go in there’ mean exactly nothing.” I snap back, tucking closer to the wall. From here I can watch my idiot cousin as well as the stairs. We’re lucky Itachi, Kisame, and Uncle Kakuzu won’t be back from town till this afternoon, work and errands keeping them in the city overnight, as they are the earliest risers.

“If it’s so secret why’d your dad even mention it.”

“I swear to everything in existence, Nasim, you are such a-”

Click.

“Ha! Best tenth birthday gift ever.” They cheered, grinning happily at the lock picking set as they put it away.

“And one of the first to get confiscated, I’m sure. How did Kisame even get away with giving you that?” I ask, standing slowly and eyeing the door.

“He slipped it under my pillow and didn’t tell anyone, obviously. And actually, the firework making set Deidara gave me was the first to be confiscated.”

“......I don’t even want to know why.”

Nasim just grins lopsidedly, and stands back, tapping the door in a few places and checking the edges of it. Satisfied, they try the doorknob and slowly it turns.

“Do you think breaking into my Dad’s secret room warrants a whole month of grounding? I don’t wanna miss science club.”

“Arata.” Nasim groans, leveling me with a glare. I fall silent, sticking my tongue out as they push open the door and step inside. I linger in the hallway, sending a nervous glance towards the stairs, and then Nasim is yanking me in after.

The door shut behind us, and for a moment we’re in complete darkness save a small gold from under the door. I cling to Nasim, waiting as I feel them shuffling around and then a flashlight flickers to life in their hand.

It takes a second to adjust to the darkness and narrow, dim light. The smell of dust is heavy here, along with the familiar scent of old books and fresh ink. As Nasim shines the light around and my eyes focus, I can see it’s a really small room, more of a closet really, with a writing desk shoved in one corner, and then a huge bookcase taking up the entire back wall.

“Huh. It really is a library. Or a writing room at least.” Nasim says, sounding disappointed.

“Great. Mystery solved. Now let’s go before-”

“Oh c’mon. Let’s at least see what’s in the books.”

I let out a whine, but Nasim ignored me approaching the bookshelf. It’s pretty big, and there’s a lot of books on them. I watch Nasim take one off the shelf at random and realize they look more like notebooks, rather than printed copies.

“Is this like, Uncle Nagato’s secret hobby? Writing a book series?” There’s amusement heavy in their voice, and I can feel the future pranks being planned already.

“Or it’s private writing! Like a diary, and we should definitely not read it!!!”

They’ve already opened the book and dropped to the floor, flashlight trained on the pages.

I wonder if there are prizes for ‘most annoying and frustrating cousin in the world’. If so, I’m pretty sure Nasim is the world recorded holder of that title.

“It’s like…..a history textbook.” They suddenly say, breaking the quiet of the room. Despite my better judgment, my interest is piqued for a moment and I sit down beside them to read the pages. Sure enough, I recognize my father’s neat handwriting, and the paragraph Nasim’s light in focused on seems to be detailing the founding of a village of some kind. The names look familiar but I can’t place them.

“That’s weird…...Dad isn’t really into history, not that I’ve ever noticed.”

“And why would he keep this a secret? You’re a huge nerd, you’d love reading this kinda stuff. Hell, Itachi would probably volunteer to help him research or something.” Nasim’s scowling at the pages now in annoyance, flipping through them.

Curious and equally confused, I stood and picked another book off the shelf, squatting down in front of Nasim so the flashlight can light both our books. I lose total track of time as we sit there, flipping through various books and searching for whatever secrets lie in the pages.

“Akatsuki.” Nasim suddenly says, in a tight, excited whisper. I jerk my head up, blinking back the swirling spots in my vision.

“Wha-?”

“The Organization that would become known across the nations as ‘Akatsuki’, was formed that day. And it…..was the gravest mistakes of our lifetime.”

“...What is that supposed to mean? Akatsuki’s our clan name, not an organization. Mom runs an online craft store with Sasori under our name, but that’s hardly 'across nations'.” I say, and I glance at Nasim. For moment, I swear I see a flicker of something like realization or understanding, but it’s gone just as fast.

“The last few pages of this book only talk about the continued growth of a war of some kind and the two villages. No more about Akatsuki save vague hints.” They say, then reach around me, putting that book back and grabbing the next three.

“Nasim, Arata, breakfast!” My dad’s, Yahiko, muffled voice carries from downstairs, and we freeze. Nasim is the first to react, taking the three books and shoving them under their arm and quickly hurry to peer out the door.

“What are you doing, you have to put those back!”

“I’ll put them back tonight, no one will notice, alright?” They say, and wave me through the door into the open hallway. The now mid-morning light is blinding, and I have to screw my eyes shut for a few moments as I listen to Nasim carefully lock and close the secret door once more.

For a few seconds, we just stand there, hearts hammering in our chests before Nasim relaxes completely, nodding.

“Go ahead and go down, I’ll be right behind as soon as I hide these in my room.” They say, patting the books.

“This is so stupid.”

“Relax, Arata. It’s just some old history book, right? And about our family- our dumb, dorky family.” They brush past me, and though their tone is light, I can’t help but notice the hard look in their eyes. 

But they hurry down the stairs before I can ask, and I’m left to head down after them, a pit growing in my stomach.

**Author's Note:**

> I finally finished this up. It's been giving me issues because honestly this whole AU was just sort of a fun side writing thing but now I kinda wanna do more plot stuff but I haven't figured it out yet. So expect a lot of weird time jumps and such.
> 
> And as I said in the tags, I changed the spelling of Nazim's name to Nasim for obvious reasons.


End file.
